Accidentally Overcommitted

 Well, here we are again!

I have wildly overcommitted our family to All of the Activities, most of them weekly. It's something I did to myself and now I am paying for it by way of frantically googling crockpot dinners (crockpot lasagna is something I just canNOT get behind) and interrupting naps. I never thought I'd be the heathen that interrupted a toddler nap but, lo, here I am. 

It's been a minute since I said I was going to start blogging again, so I thought I'd actually be a woman who keeps her word. 

I'm up to my eyeballs in parenting and homeschooling and piano lessons and dance classes and soccer practices (though, praise God, we are currently on summer break!) These are all good things and blessings that my kids love, but sometimes I can lose sight of that and just feel so very bogged down and not so very blessed. 

It's funny how different things I do or don't do everyday can be measured. If I were to skip a day of laundry or dishes, it would be immediately noticeable. Other things, less so. Maybe I get a little lax on disciplining the preschooler. Maybe that could go unnoticed for a few weeks. But then, yikes. Suddenly he's desperately in need of some loving correction and boundaries and everyone is well aware that mom has been sleeping on the job.

Another thing I've noticed is my attitude. Maybe I can slip through a few days in a grump fest. I might check out on my phone more than I'd like and maybe be less than gracious when responding to my children. That's something that will smack you in the face if it goes too long. Joyfulness may not always beget joyfulness in those around you, but grumpiness and fussiness certainly does. What's funny about that one, is I notice it in my children well before I take a good, hard look in the mirror. "Why is everyone snapping at each other?" "Why are we complaining so much?' Then, finally, the cold realization, "What have I been modeling?"

So, in this busy season of parenting and potty training and driving to practices and making sandwiches and chopping apples, I will be reminded to rejoice always. I will live with open hands and allow Jesus to be the one who sustains me. I've never felt refreshed and restored and challenged to take on a new day after spending a day on my phone grousing about the situation. It is only in Him that I can take on this good work.